PFAS may contaminate Los Gatos drinking water. Can't conclude PFAS is "low concern for environmental and human health".

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Want to know what it's like to learn your children have been drinking contaminated water? Communities like Flint as well as those that neighbor chemical companies can tell you. Image from cargofilm-releasing.com

Researchers ask "Are Fluoropolymers Really of Low Concern for Human and Environmental Health and Separate from Other PFAS?"  

The answer: "The evidence reviewed in this analysis does not find a scientific rationale for concluding that fluoropolymers are of low concern for environmental and human health. Given fluoropolymers’ extreme persistence; emissions associated with their production, use, and disposal; and a high likelihood for human exposure to PFAS, their production and uses should be curtailed except in cases of essential uses."

So  we can't conclude PFAS is of "low concern for environmental and human health". 

But is there even PFAS in artificial turf?  Yes...

Consultant Dr. Laura Green has traditionally been someone the artificial turf industry calls upon to help convince you PFAS isn't in synthetic turf.

In the November 2021 Oak Bluffs Board of Health board meeting video below, she explains:

  • There IS indeed PFAS in synthetic turf.  
  • It is INTENTIONALLY ADDED to synthetic turf during manufacturing.  It is not a contaminant.
  • It is a slip agent used to minimize the defects in the extruded plastic grass blades.



Dr. Graham Peaslee, professor at Notre Dame and leading expert on PFAS, would argue confirmation that a specific PFAS chemical is in synthetic turf raises serious environmental and human health concerns.  The PVDF used to facilitate extrusion of the plastic grass blades come with a significant amount of highly soluble PFAS which can contribute significantly to the PFAS pollution of drinking water.

This establishes cause for concern that artificial turf may contribute to PFAS-contaminated Los Gatos drinking water with potential health effects for the Los Gatos community.